<VV> Subaru driving

[levair at aol.com]

I had a great experience today guest driving a  400 HP AWD Subaru WRX 
which was very well prepared. This car is often FTD at our events.
   Many thanks to Chuck Mcmillion for the chance and the preparation.

We had five runs at Grissom AFB near Kokomo IN. Grissom is very grippy 
concrete and the courses are quite fast and flowing.

Where these  4 wheel drive cars really excel is on the less grippy 
surfaces, so the concrete was sort of an uphill test.
    Due to having 3 drivers and two class, I had to run in SM instead of 
SMS. That put me in the same class as my son's street driven YS 045 
Stinger.
      My SMS  class had to run in the FIRST heat and the other 2 drivers 
in the 2nd heat, so I had to learn nearly every thing on my own by 
trying and failing. I had never  even sat in one of these cars before 
and had never raced a car with power steering and power brakes: much 
less AWD.
    I had tons of well meant advice, but my head was swimming.
    I went 2 seconds faster on my 2nd run buy not thinking so much.
     By trying very hard , but relaxing   and  letting the car come to 
me I was able to finish in the same 48 sec bracket as the no 2 driver 
but not in the same bracket as Chuck's  low 47s and high 46s.
    I surprisingly, was able to get the car to rotate some in the 
sweepers; then I got way too brave on my last run and rotated it 360 
degrees.
     In the next heat I got to ride with Chuck and learn how to 
correctly drive the car: too little too late of course.
. An interesting thing that I did learn, that Front drivers and FWD 
drivers obviously already knew , was the acceleration inward toward the 
apex with increased power application. Acceleration in the direction 
that the wheels were turned.
    Chuck tried 2nd gear in the fast sweeper that I been using 3rd gear 
in. The extra power drew the car inward toward the shorter/closer line. 
Rear wheel drive cars push outward with the same power application 
unless using power on, tail out oversteer (if there is room to do so). 
.The favorite line of the AWD cars seems to be hard braking to get 
pointed in and then huge power application.
    There is a lot of cammaradie in this class of cars and they are very 
popular.A great asset is that the car also be used for very many other 
activities. Lets' see, what else can I use my modified car for????
    I was pleased and satisfied with my performance and thrilled to get 
the chance to participate in this form of racing.

Hmmm,, amy more loaner cars out there? I've been loaning mine a lot 
lately.

Warren